Line shape of beam deflection of magnetic nanoparticles in a Stern-Gerlach setup

Abstract

An adaptation of the famous Stern-Gerlach experiment has found important applications to nanomagnetism. A beam of magnetic clusters is sent in a projectile through an inhomogeneous magnetic field and the resultant deflected spots are collected on a detector screen. The difference with the historic experiment is that the beam deflection during the traversal through the magnetic region is influenced by rotational diffusion of the magnetization vector across an anisotropy barrier. In this paper we provide a complete analysis of the line profile of the deflected spots and a detailed comparison with experimental data.